


Powerless

by findingbravado



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies), The Incredibles (2004)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, bob is a hetero, evelyn is a chaotic lesbian, helen is a lawful bisexual, no infidelity basically, there is TENSION and ANGST i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-12 11:10:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15338586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/findingbravado/pseuds/findingbravado
Summary: Elastigirl had been defined by her powers her entire life. So what did it say about her that the two most important women in her life weren't?





	1. A New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Parrs adjust to their new life after supers are made legal again. Oh yeah, and they have a fourth kid no one knows about.

Ellen, as always, woke up as soon as the sun rose. She smiled as she looked over at her baby brother, still asleep, and got up to get dressed and brush her teeth. Jack-Jack was just beginning to wake up when she walked back in the room, and she picked him up and snuggled him for minute. Then she changed him right away — nothing was harder to deal with than Jack-Jack in his monster form with a dirty diaper. She dressed the baby, then placed him gently in the high chair in the kitchen where her mother was cooking breakfast. 

“Good morning, sweetie,” Helen chirped over her shoulder. 

“Good morning. What’s for breakfast?”

“Waffles for you, pancakes for Vi, eggs and bacon for your dad and Dash, and applesauce for Jack-Jack.”

“Wow, mom, you didn’t have to go to all that trouble just for breakfast. Can I help with something?”

“No, no, sit down. Today is a special day for all of us! Vi is going to high school, Dash is going to middle school, your dad and I are going back to work, and — most importantly — you’re starting your new homeschooling with Jack-Jack by your side!”

Ellen grinned at this. When Helen got back from her assignment — which ended up being a ploy to hypnotize her and destroy the face of supers — and supers were made legal again, she had a tough choice to make. She so desperately wanted to do what she loved, but who would take care of the baby? There was no way any day care could handle a kid that... mischievous. 

After a long argument with Bob, they had compromised on a solution that neither of them were particularly fond of: each would alternate hero work and staying at home every other month. When they told the kids their plan, Ellen could sense right away how unhappy they were about it, although their poker faces were quite good. So, later that night, Ellen took her mother aside and offered to stay home and watch Jack-Jack. Before Helen could put in a word edgewise, her daughter laid out her plan: she would stay home and teach herself — she had always been very intelligent and studious — with the same materials Violet would be learning in her tenth grade classes. That way, the twins could still study together. And while she was home, she would also take care of Jack-Jack. She was a master at using the Jack-Track — the name they had come up with for Edna’s tracker designed to predict the baby’s powers — and besides his mother, Ellen was Jack-Jack’s favorite in the family. She was always able to calm him down and make him giggle. 

Helen and Bob talked about it together, and while they had their concerns, they felt like it was a pretty solid plan. Ellen was nothing if not responsible, and they agreed to let her try this plan for a week. If it didn’t go well, she’d go back to public school with her sister, and the Parrs would revert to the original plan. 

“Do I smell bacon?” Bob’s voice boomed cheerfully as he sauntered into the kitchen. 

“Bacon?!” Dash sprinted into the kitchen right behind his dad. 

“Where’s Vi?” Helen asked. “Violet! Breakfast is ready! I made you pancakes!” Violet shuffled out of her room and sat down at the table with an indecipherable expression on her face. 

“Is something wrong, honey?”

“Everybody heard about what happened on the ship. Now all the older kids are going to think I’m a freak, and they don’t even know me yet!”

“Vi,” Helen said gently, “it’s going to be great. You’re not a freak, you’re a hero! And if anyone thinks otherwise, then forget about them. They’re not worth your time.” 

The yellow school bus came down the street, and Dash quickly gobbled down his food and sprinted out the door. Violet had barely eaten anything, but she got up to leave, too. Before either of them made it out the door, Helen reached her arms out and pulled them in for a hug and a kiss. “Have a great day at school, kids. I love you.” She cleared her throat and shot a glare at Bob. 

“Oh yeah, yes, bye kids!” he yelled without looking up from his newspaper. His wife rolled her eyes. 

Violet was worried about feeling like a freak at school, but there was only one person in the family who truly felt like an outcast. 

Ellen was the only one in the family without powers.

***

The Parrs knew Ellen was different from the day she was born. “Different” meaning “normal.” Helen and Bob were so excited when they found out Helen was pregnant. They were terrified, too: Bob was worried the kids might not have powers; Helen was worried they would. They were only pretty sure they were having twins — one fetus kept disappearing and then reappearing in the ultrasounds — but they decided not to find out the sex of the babies until they were born. Helen felt sure she could ascertain the perfect names for her children once she saw them for the first time.

She was right about Violet. She came out first, with big purple eyes and a smile that all the nurses cooed over. Then Ellen came right behind her, and the nurses smiled politely, but the truth was that there was nothing remarkable about Ellen. Nothing at all. Yet, when Helen looked at her, she felt some strange pull. She could see herself in her newborn baby’s eyes. And that’s why she named her Ellen — because that was, in Helen’s opinion, a prettier version of her own name.

Ellen’s parents didn’t make their daughter feel like an outcast — in fact, they went out of their way to made sure she felt loved and included. And while Ellen could sense that her father, deep down, was disappointed that she didn’t have powers, she could also sense that her mother was relieved. Helen loved all her children fiercely and equally, of course, but it was Ellen’s room — which she shared with Jack-Jack — she came to every night before bed. A late-night chat would annoy Violet, and Dash would prefer talking to his dad, but Ellen was closest with her mom — even closer than she was with her twin sister. 

Of course, being without powers meant missing out on the last two family “trips” the kids took to save their parents from serious harm. Ellen was not particularly jealous — she got past her lack of powers and accepted it at a young age — but she did feel useless. Knowing her dad had been taken hostage by Syndrome and then her mother by Evelyn Deavor just a few weeks later, and knowing there was nothing she could do about it, made her feel absolutely helpless. And, she’d admit, it was a little difficult to watch her family come home, bonding over their crazy adventures that Ellen couldn’t begin to imagine. But her mother always knew how to cheer her up, so that left-out feeling never lasted for very long. 

Still, these things were jarring. The first time, when Helen, Violet, and Dash went to rescue Bob from the island, Ellen had no idea they were even gone. She was spending the night at a friend’s house, and they decided to play hooky from school (and Dash’s track meet) the next day. It wasn’t until they were watching TV that afternoon that she learned her entire family had been arrested. Rick Dicker had to come pick her up and bring her to the motel after explaining that her family had tried to stop some villain named the Underminer. 

The second time was scarier. Her dad had gotten a call on his phone about Helen, and he rushed off right away. “Uh, Dad? You remember I’m going to see a movie with my friend tonight, right?” she yelled after him. He didn’t answer, so she assumed he was still okay with it.  
When she got home that night, no one was there, not even Jack-Jack. The house was completely destroyed. She called Lucius — no answer. She called Edna, but the fashion mogul had no idea where her entire family might have gone. The only choice she had was to sit at home, crying, until her family came back.

***

Mr. Incredible’s emergency line rang almost immediately after breakfast. 

“A bank robbery? Corner of 1st Avenue and 22nd Street? I’ll be right there.” He dashed to his room to change into his supersuit and out the front door in a matter of 30 seconds. “Bye, honey! I’ll call if I’m going to be out late!” he yelled over his shoulder. 

Ellen noticed the Elastigirl phone was turned off. After Fironic and Gazerbeam didn’t answer their phones, leading to the death of the Deavors’ parents, supers were now able to record a message explaining why they weren’t answering and recommending another super to call. 

“You’re not working today?” 

“No, Jack-Jack has already outgrown his suit. I thought maybe you’d like to come with me and spend some time with Auntie Edna?”

“You want me… to come with you… to Edna’s?”

Edna absolutely adored Jack-Jack, but she had never met any of the other Parr children. She didn’t really like kids; the baby was a special exception.

“Yes. Honey, I don’t want you in the house all alone on your first day of this whole… experiment, I guess. C’mon, E will love you.”

“All right. I’ll grab the Jack-Track and meet you at the car.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic ever, so I'm really nervous to be posting this! I have the other chapters/scenes sketched out but not totally written, and I'd love to hear any comments or feedback!  
> And if you're here for the Hevelyn ship, it's coming, I swear. I just have to get the basis of the plot/characters ironed out.  
> I'm also on tumblr as findingbravado!


	2. A New Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edna makes a startling observation, and Helen realizes she has to seek help from someone she had hoped she would never see again.

Ellen rolled over in her bed and let out a long sigh. Usually when their parents were fighting like this, she would go over to Violet’s room so they could be both annoyed and worried together. But Ellen knew if she were to visit Violet tonight, her sister would speculate about the cause of the argument, and Ellen really did not want to talk about it, considering she was the cause of the argument.

Not directly, really. But her parents were arguing because of what happened when Edna met Ellen.

***

Edna, of course, was delighted to see Jack-Jack (“Who’s Auntie Edna’s special little super baby?”) and was mildly wary of Ellen. Ellen could have sworn the tiny woman kept one eye on her the whole time they were in her lab. But their somewhat awkward first encounter quickly faded from memory as Edna got more and more worked up over the new aspects of Jack-Jack’s suit she had designed. Her joy was infectious. Every time she grinned, Ellen grinned. Every time she laughed, Ellen laughed. 

Edna shot Ellen a suspicious look. Was she mirroring her emotions on purpose? Making fun of her? But Ellen seemed to be genuinely joyful, excited, amused.

“Helen, darling, come here. I think this adorable baby needs some attending to, no?” Helen paused and Edna shot a meaningful look at Ellen.

“Huh? Oh, right — hey Ellen, could you go change Jack-Jack real quick?”

“The bathroom is down the hall, to the right, then another right, three lefts, a diagonal hallway, and then a right and then it’s on the left,” Edna informed her way too quickly for any person to comprehend.

Ellen picked up Jack-Jack and walked slowly out the door, looking nervously at each hallway. Edna waited until the teen was out of sight before bringing Helen over to her table, where she poured them both a cup of tea.

“Helen, this is your daughter without powers, yes?”

“Yes. Violet’s twin.”

“And you are sure she does not possess any powers? None at all?”

“Yes. Trust me, Bob tried everything to see if he could get her to display some powers. Violet and Dash showed their powers as soon as they were born, and Jack-Jack, as you know, took about a year. But it’s been 15 years, and Ellen is just… Ellen. No powers.”

Edna took a sip of tea, a thoughtful look in her eyes. “Have you considered powers that are not… physical?”

“What, something like Psycwave? Ellen has three siblings. I think if she had mind control powers, we would know by now.” Helen couldn’t stop herself from chuckling out loud at the thought of her mild-mannered daughter forcing her brothers and sister to do her chores for her.

“No, no, dear, something far more subtle than that. Perhaps like Everseer, although clairvoyance, too, doesn’t seem quite right…”

“E, what are you getting at here?”

“It’s hard to say, darling. I just have a feeling about her.”

“A feeling? What feeling?”

“Well I’m sure I don’t know, Helen, but I think it would be wise to reconsider whether or not the child has powers,” Edna said in her signature aloof manner, turning in her chair and walking away from the table. “A child of two supers born without powers? Why, that’s highly unusual. Highly unusual, indeed.”

A few seconds later, Ellen reappeared with Jack-Jack, both giggling over something that must have happened down the hall. Edna immediately glided over to them and picked up Jack-Jack as he reached his arms over to his favorite non-relative.

“Who’s the smartest little baby in the world? What tiny little genius loves his Auntie Edna?” she cooed, then suddenly turned on her heel to face Helen. “Oh, it is imperative that I keep him for the night, Helen, I insist. The new suit must be tested, I must develop a more sophisticated tracker… I simply cannot let him out of my sight. You must leave him with me.” 

“Yes, yes, that’s fine, E, go ahead,” Helen mumbled, still trying to process what the short-yet-assertive woman had said to her moments earlier. She stood there silently for a minute, staring off into space. Ellen? Powers? Really?

“Mom?”

Helen snapped back to reality.

“Right. Sorry. Let’s head to the car — thanks, E!” she called over her shoulder.

There was a weighted silence as the pair drove home. Helen stretched out her fingers as she drove, a nervous habit she had; Ellen watched her mother with concern and found herself growing anxious, too.

“Mom, did something happen? Are you okay?”

Helen pulled over on a side road and turned the car off. She looked at Ellen like she was seeing her for the first time, studying her nose and her hands and her eyes that were exact replicas of her own.

“Have you… have you ever wondered if you had powers? I mean, seriously wondered? Like maybe you thought you had powers?”

“What are you talking about, Mom? What is this about? What happened with Edna while I was gone?” The more she looked at her mother, whose eyes were wide with confusion and a little bit of fear, the more anxious she became. She was having trouble breathing. And the more nervous Ellen became, Helen began to feel herself grow more and more panicky. A very tense few seconds felt like ten years until Helen finally exploded.

“Edna thinks you have powers.”

Helen seemed startled by the words that had just come out of her mouth. Ellen’s eyes grew wide, her brows furrowed. A shocked silence hung heavy in the air between them. It seemed like an eternity before Ellen responded.

“She thinks… I have powers? Why?”

“She didn’t say.”

“What powers?”

“She didn’t say that, either.”

“Then what… why…”

“She just said she had a ‘feeling.’ She said not all powers are physical.”

“So… what does this mean? For me?”

“I don’t know, honey. I’m really trying to wrap my head around this. We would know, wouldn’t we? But I also don’t think Edna has been wrong in her entire life. Probably. I just… I’m going to talk to your dad about this when we get home. Have you ever… Do you think… Maybe tonight you can talk to Vi? Try to think about something you feel that could be a power?” 

They pulled into the driveway. “I mean, I guess. I just don’t feel super, Mom. Please don’t get your hopes up.”

***

Ellen tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep partly because of her parents’ argument, yes, but also because a burning question she had locked away in the deepest, darkest part of her brain more than a decade ago was again front and center in her mind: Did she have powers?

She had gone over it with Violet earlier that evening — could she read minds? Predict the future? Telekinesis? A sixth sense?

No, no, no, and no. 

The girls shrugged it off and went back to their normal twin gossip — their respective significant others, mostly. But with their parents arguing loudly two rooms over, it was hard to pretend things were normal. In her own room, Ellen tried to drown it out, to ignore it. But even though she mostly heard muffled yelling and couldn’t quite make out the words, she knew exactly what they were saying, how they felt. Her dad was elated to hear of the possibility that Ellen could have powers, and her mom was terrified by how this would change Ellen’s whole life. They bickered all night.

Ellen laid on her side and held a pillow against her head until she finally fell asleep.

***

The next morning started quietly. Ellen woke up to the sound of her mom cooking breakfast and walked to the kitchen in her pajamas. She could tell that her mother was stressed — more than the mom of four usually was — and it worried her. Wordlessly, she picked up a pair of tongs and began to tend to the bacon as her mother was mixing pancake batter. Helen looked down at a girl whose world was rocked less than 24 hours ago. She ruffled her fingers in her hair and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. The two cooked breakfast together without exchanging a single word. 

The rest of the family slowly trickled in and sat down at the table.

“So… are we going to talk about it?” Violet asked, locking eyes with her sister before shooting looks to both of their parents. Ellen smiled in appreciation — she had never been one to address conflict head-on, and she was glad she had Violet to stick up for her when she needed her to.

“Talk about what?” Bob asked, not looking up from the morning paper.

“I guess not then.” And then after an uncomfortable silence, she exploded, “Seriously? We aren’t going to say one word about what Edna said? We’re just going to pretend like she never suggested Ellen might have powers?”

Dash’s head shot up at that. “Woah! Ellen has powers? Hey! Ellen! Try to stop me!” He began to sprint around the table as fast as he could. The twins started at him in exasperation until Violet finally put up a force field in front of him, knocking him flat on his back. “Ow.”

“Vi, now’s not really the time-” Helen began to say, but Ellen, feeling empowered by her sister’s annoyance, finally spoke up.

“When is the time, then? We’ve accepted that I’m not a super for 15 years, and now all of the sudden I might be, and it’s ‘not the time’ to talk about it? What, do we have to wait another 15 years?”

Helen visibly flinched at the harsh tone of Ellen’s normally soft and gentle voice. Bob finally put the paper down and gawked his daughter. Violet stared in shock at her sister, but the slight upward curve of her lips gave away how proud she was that her twin finally stood up for herself. Dash, never one for serious moments, asked, “May I be excused?” and then sprinted out of the breakfast nook before anyone could answer.

Finally, after a very pregnant pause, Helen said in a soft voice, “Honey, I’m sorry, I- I didn’t mean to make it sound like I want to just ignore this. I don’t, not at all, I’m just… I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

“So… what do we do?” Ellen prodded.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m kind of lost. I started showing my powers right away. So did Dash and Violet. It became obvious your dad was abnormally strong when he started playing with other kids on the playground in school, and Jack-Jack, obviously, is just now figuring out his own powers. But I’ve never met someone who didn’t develop powers until they were older.”

“Wait a minute,” Violet said, gears churning in her head, “what if she’s always had powers, and we just didn’t know? What if it’s something really subtle that’s been there all along, but we’ve just always thought it was normal?”

“Hey, hey, there’s something there!” Bob agreed, always enthusiastic to be discussing superpowers. “Let’s think for a minute — what’s something Ellen does that’s kind of… special? Something that’s not weird, but maybe the rest of us can’t do it?” 

Everyone at the table furrowed their brows in concentration. The din of Dash’s cartoons was audible from the living room. Helen stretched her fingers and let them snap in place. Bob drummed his fingers on the table. Violet scratched her head. Ellen rubbed her nose while they all sifted through 15 years of memories. Every so often someone would pause and open their mouth, but then realize whatever they were about to say surely could not be it.

After a few minutes, Violet said, “I mean, I guess she’s always been good with Jack-Jack? I mean like, he likes her way more than he likes us. He never sets himself on fire in front of her. He’s never even bitten her, and he bit Mom once!”

“So… my superpower is babysitting?”

“Edna did once tell me that parenting is a heroic act,” Bob said, “but I don’t know if it’s necessarily a power.”

They went back to thinking.

It had been ten minutes, and Helen still hadn’t said a word. “Mom?” Ellen whispered. “Are you okay? You seem… I don’t know. Sad. But, like, in a good way?”

Helen’s head snapped up. “That’s it!” she cried out.

“What? What’s it?” Bob shouted, standing up in excitement.

Turning to her daughter, Helen asked, “Ellen, why did you come into the kitchen this morning? You don’t usually help me cook.”

“I don’t know… I guess you seemed sort of stressed, so I wanted to do something.”

“How did you know I was stressed?”

“I just… I could tell, when I woke up. I could sense it.”

“And just now, how did you know what I was thinking?”

“I didn’t. I could just tell you had some weird mixed-emotions thing going on.”

“You laughed whenever Edna laughed… You make Jack-Jack calm down… Ellen!”

“Mom, what?”

“It’s emotions! It’s feelings! It’s senses!” By this point, she was standing up with a wild glint in her eyes, the way scientists look when they make earth-shattering discoveries. The rest of the family, however, sat there utterly confused.

“Helen, honey, you’re not making any sense here,” Bob said. “Feelings? What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know.” She returned to her seat, her expression back to confusion and frustration. “Edna brought up Psycwave and Everseer, but she seemed to think Ellen had nonphysical powers that were different than theirs…” She furrowed her brows, deep in thought. “I just… It seems like there’s a connection there, you know? With feelings? Violet’s right — no one has an effect on Jack-Jack the way Ellen does. And, looking back, I can think of a lot of times when she knows just what to say to me, because she somehow understands how I’m feeling, even when I don’t. It might be nothing, but it might be something, too. Who knows?”

“Hang on.” Ellen cleared her throat and looked around the table. She thought silently for a minute, then spoke with a quiet, assured confidence. “Dad, you’re excited about the prospect that I might have powers after all, but you’re also scared of getting your hopes up, just to be disappointed like you were when I was born.” She ignored Bob’s protests and turned to her sister. “Violet, you’re feeling confused, but mostly you’re determined to figure out whatever this is, because you’re tired of being the ‘freak’ twin with powers,” she half smiled, “even though technically I’m the freak here.” She turned to the other end of the table. “Mom, you’re just completely overwhelmed. You’re struggling to even process all your emotions — confused, hopeful, terrified, frustrated…

“And Dash is very… well, he’s in an emotional vegetative state, really, he’s watching cartoons.”

Everyone at the table sat in stunned silence. 

“My god,” Bob finally said weakly. “Helen, I think you’re right.”

***

Helen looked at both her daughters. “Vi, Ellen, could you give us a minute?”

The twins went to Violet’s room and started earnestly discussing this new breakthrough.

“Do you really think that’s it, Ellen? Do you think you have some sort of emotional power?”

“I don’t know, Vi… Yeah, maybe I’m good at knowing how people feel, but is that really a superpower? Besides, I think Mom’s exaggerating. It’s not like I can read her mind.”

Violet contemplated for a second. “Hey, remember that night I thought Tony stood me up for our date?”

“Yeah,” Ellen said, her face falling sympathetically. “You were so upset. I was so angry for you… Poor Tony, though, he didn’t even have a choice.”

“But do you remember that note you slipped under my door that night?”

“Uh, vaguely.”

“Dad had been knocking on my door, trying to get me to talk about it, but I just kept yelling at him to go away. I didn’t want to talk to anyone or even look at anyone. But a few minutes later, you shoved a little note under my door. It said, ‘Vi, I’m so sorry this happened. I know you don’t want to talk about it, and you don’t have to. Just know I love you, and we’re going to make this work with Tony, or else he’ll have hell to pay.’ 

“I was still so sad, but your note made me feel better. Like I had someone on my side. I don’t know how, but you knew exactly what I needed to hear.”

“I was just doing what any sister would do, Vi.” 

***

“What are we going to do, Helen? This isn’t exactly a Jack-Jack situation. We can’t train her to use her powers if we don’t even really know what they are.”

Bob was pacing the room, clutching his newspaper in his fist so tightly that the newsprint was staining his hands black. Helen was sitting at the table with her head in her hands, fingers grasping her hair like she might pull it out at any moment.

“I don’t know, Bob. Edna wasn’t really willing to give any more information about her… suspicion, I guess, and besides, she’s not a superpowers scientist. She designs with the information someone gives to her.” 

“Okay, so let’s think about what we know. She can sense others’ feelings, and she can understand them even if the other person doesn’t. How can that power be useful? How can we utilize it?”

“Woah, Bob, take a step back. Maybe she doesn’t want to use it. We didn’t even ask her. She’s spent 15 years being ‘normal’ … maybe she just wants to stay that way.”

Bob quit pacing and sat down with his legs sprawled out. He let out a big sigh. “I know, I know. I’m just… I’m just so happy that we are a real supers family, you know? When the kids get older, if they want, we can all fight crime as a family…”

“Don’t let Ellen hear you say that. You don’t want her to think that her lack of powers made you unhappy. Because it doesn’t.” She stretched her neck across the table until her face was one inch from his. “Right, Bob?”

Coughing, Bob nodded yes. “Of course not! I just… it would be so cool to fight crime as a family. If that’s what they choose. I know we are waiting until they’re 18 to see what they want.” 

Helen smiled thinking about how far Bob had come. When he found out Helen was pregnant, he would go on and on about having little super babies. And when supers were forced underground, it was like his life was shattered. Like his family didn’t even matter — just hero work. But now, she looked at his short blonde hair and into his bright blue eyes and knew just how much he had grown as a father.

“So, back to what we have to do… Bob, we need help. I have an idea, but I’m not sure you’ll like it.”

“Hit me.”

“Okay, so you bring Lucius in and see what he can figure out. And while he’s over… I think I need to see if we should bring in someone who’s spent an uncomfortable amount of time researching supers. A sort of… genius, if you will.”

“You don’t mean…”

Helen bit her lip and nodded, looking down at the ground. 

“Helen- Are you- HER?”

“I know, I know it’s crazy-”

“Crazy?! She tried to KILL YOU. And then she made you try to kill ME. And then she made us try to kill OUR OWN CHILDREN.”

“Bob! I know. But like it or not, Evelyn Deavor is the smartest person in this whole city. If anyone can figure out Ellen’s full potential, it’s her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, that was a long chapter with a loooot of dialogue. But yay, Evelyn's finally here! I hope y'all are as excited as I am to see what her role will be in the chapters to come.  
> As always, please share what you think in the comments and give suggestions if you have any!  
> Find me on tumblr as findingbravado :)


	3. A New Partnership

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen swallows her fear. Evelyn swallows her pride.

Helen took a deep breath. A deep, deep breath. But the air wouldn’t quite catch in her lungs. She stood on the porch in her supersuit — Edna’s, not Galbaki’s, of course — for a solid minute before she got the courage to knock on the door.

A few agonizing seconds later, the door opened, just a crack.

“What the-  what the hell are you doing here?”

Evelyn had never really been the “put-together” type — that is, her mind was always preoccupied with something more pressing than whether or not her shirt was tucked in — but right now, she was a downright mess. She was almost unrecognizable. Her short, disheveled hair had grown past her eyes and looked like it hadn’t been washed in days, and an oversized t-shirt hung loosely off her small frame. There were deep purple bags beneath her eyes and her breath smelled strongly of whiskey.

Helen couldn’t bring herself to look the woman in the eyes. The woman who pretended to be her friend, who hypnotized her, who forced her to fight her husband, who tried to destroy all supers _including her children_ , who would have preferred to literally die rather than be saved by a super… Helen’s head was pounding, and her voice was small. “Evelyn, I…”

She could almost feel the hostility radiating off the small woman in the doorframe, and she looked up. She could do this. She could talk to this villain just like she talked to any other villain. She cleared her throat and started again.

“Look, I don’t want to be here, either,” she said. “In fact, I was kind of hoping I’d never see your face again. But I’m desperate. I need help.”

Evelyn stood silent for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“Oh, you need help, do you? Because you saved my life, so I’m indebted to you forever now, right?” Evelyn shook her head and spat out a mirthless chuckle. “That’s exactly how you supers think. You say you’re doing all of this for the ‘greater good,’ but what you _really_ mean is you’re doing all of this to feel better about yourselves. I didn’t want to be saved, and neither did that guy Mr. Incredible ‘saved’ sixteen years ago. But you never want to think that, do you? You’d prefer to think that people are truly good on the inside. That we always want what’s best — _your_ definition of best. That you can trust everyone. Don’t you remember that was how I almost killed you? And you’re seriously stupid enough to come here and ask me for help?”

Elastigirl was pretty much unfazed by the rant that was not unlike the teenage fits Violet occasionally threw. “Are you done?”

Evelyn snapped out of her angry monologue, somewhat annoyed that it didn’t seem to have had an effect on the super in front of her. She put her hand on her hip and leaned her head against the doorframe, still not willing to let Elastigirl enter her ~~prison~~ home.

“How did you even find me?”

“The day after you were arrested, I remembered that you made me put some innocent pizza guy in jail. I went to bail him out, and I was curious what had happened to you. Violet had quipped that you would just get a ‘slap on the wrist’ because of your family’s money, so I asked a guard and he told me you had been put on house arrest. I didn’t think anything more of it until yesterday. I called Winston and he was more than happy to give me your address.” She chuckled slightly. “I think he seriously believes that spending time with me will make you obsessed with supers like he is.”

Evelyn snorted. “He’s such a child.”

“I know you’re not ever going to like supers, or even like me as a person, but I really do need your help.” Helen sighed. “You know I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t desperate. You’re the only person I can think of who’s smart enough to handle this.”

Evelyn eyed the super suspiciously. Unlike any of the other heroes she had studied while trying to choose the right person to carry out her mission, Elastigirl was deeply altruistic. She didn’t appear to have a selfish bone in her body. Despite the screaming of the cynic in the back of her head, the believer — as Elastigirl once called it — was intrigued. “What do you mean by ‘this’?”

“Would you please let me in? I’m tired of standing.”

“Fine. Come in. But only because I’m bored out of my damn mind.”

Evelyn opened the door all the way and watched as the spandex-clad woman walked over to her couch, hesitated, and then sat down. Evelyn went to the kitchen to pour herself another drink — the whiskey glass she was holding kept mysteriously emptying itself — and wondered if she should offer a drink to her guest.

“I bet goody-two-shoes Elastigirl doesn’t drink much, does she?”

Helen almost doubled over in laughter, momentarily forgetting the anxiety that had been squeezing her chest. “Are you kidding me? I have four kids. I never get to drink anymore. Pour me a double, neat.”

She obliged and set the drinks on the coffee table. “Okay. So. What the fuck is it exactly that you want?”

She noted the fear in Elastigirl’s eyes — not even the mask could hide the feelings that her light brown eyes betrayed.

“You remember my family, right? The ones you, if you recall, attempted to murder?”

“Hey, now. I left the freak baby alone.” The inventor rolled her eyes before catching a near-lethal stare. “Yeah, yeah, I remember. Mr. Incredible and the invisible girl and the kid who runs really fast. And the freak baby.”

“Yeah, well… There’s another one. Another daughter.”

Evelyn blinked, then grinned. “Ooh, let’s play a fun guessing game. What’s her power? Telekinesis? No, wait, the baby already has that. Shapeshifting? Shit, no, that’s the terrifying baby again. Is it fire power? Earth bending? Mind control?” Helen twitched a bit at that last guess. “Holy shit, is it mind control?”

The super was stretching and snapping her fingers again. She couldn’t believe she was sitting on a couch, somewhat casually having a conversation with the woman who tried to kill her and her whole family.

“No, it’s not mind control… per se,” she finally said.

“‘Per se’? What the hell does that mean?”

“Honestly, we don’t really know. It has something to do with sensing emotions, or feelings… That’s about all we’ve got figured out. Up until two days ago, we thought she didn’t have any powers at all. So we’re all pretty freaked out right now.”

“And you need my help because…?”

“Because you clearly know your stuff. I saw your research. You didn’t just look up me and my husband and Frozone. You researched every single super in hiding. I’m willing to bet you know a hell of a lot about supers — you’re way too smart to hate something you don’t know anything about. Surely you’re a bit of an expert on different types of powers.”

A slight, cocky smile betrayed Evelyn’s otherwise cold demeanor. Elastigirl was right; she had spent forever hacking the NSA and downloading all the supers’ files to choose her target for the Screenslaver mission. She listened to interview after interview and watched hours of rescue footage. She knew just about everything there was to know about all the supers who were active before the government forced them into hiding in 1947.

“Yeah, okay, and? Why in God’s name should I help _you_? You’re the reason I’m in this hellhole in the first place.”

“Okay, first of all, you’re here because you kind of broke the law. But seriously?” She gestured around the ornate mansion. “A hellhole?”

“Ha. Look closer. Do you see a TV? A toaster? A goddamn refrigerator? There is not a single electronic thing in this entire fucking house, because they think I’ll use the parts to devise some way to break out of here. Not that they’re wrong.”

On second glance, Helen realized she was right. The house, while magnificently large and decorated well with paintings and statues, was otherwise completely barren. It may as well have been a prison cell.

“Well, that’s it, then,” she said simply. “You don’t have to help me because you like me, or you think it’s right, or what the hell ever. Help me because I know you’re bored out of your fucking mind.”

Evelyn couldn’t stop herself from jumping back just a little at Elastigirl’s strong language. Not that it bothered her, of course — she cursed like a fucking sailor — but she’d never heard the hero say anything more controversial than “crap.” And, she had to admit, there was some truth to her argument. She had been losing her mind trapped alone in that big house. She didn’t care too much that she was alone, but she needed stuff to do. Winston brought her books and magazines, which she appreciated, but she needed to use her hands. Design. Build something. One can only mock up so many sketches lacking a physical prototype without going crazy.

“So let’s say, hypothetically, I agree to help you — which I’m not, just to be clear — what is it exactly you want me to _do_? Perform a medical exam on your kid?”

“I just want you to meet her. Get a feel for her. See if you have any insight on the extent of her powers, if they even are really powers.”

“And remind me again what these ‘powers’ are? She can, like, tell when someone is sad?”

“It’s deeper than that. It seems like she can… understand another person’s complex emotions, even when the other person isn’t aware of their own underlying feelings.”

Evelyn stoop up and started pacing and, at some point, had subconsciously traded her glass of whiskey for a pencil, which she was now tapping against her chin. “Underlying feelings,” she muttered under her breath, “complexity…”

She turned to face Helen. “You understand how powerful this could be, right? If what you’re saying is true, your kid could inflict some serious damage without lifting a finger.”

This was a thought that had been plaguing the super. Ellen was so kind, so gentle, so trusting, so _small_ … She could easily be taken advantage of, even for how extraordinarily intelligent she was. Helen imagined what the Screenslaver — uh, Evelyn — would do with that power if Ellen was hypnotized.

“Yeah. Bob is hopeful that Ellen could fight with us one day. I’m not really sure I want her doing that. But still, it couldn’t hurt to test out some tech that could enhance her powers, right?”

Evelyn eyed Elastigirl, tempted to say yes, but seriously loathing the idea of helping a super.

“I bet if the police knew you were working with ‘goody-two-shoes’ Elastigirl, they’d let you get your hands on some actual technology…”

“YES. Yes. Okay. I’ll help. But,” she snapped, “I am _not_ doing this for you. It’s only because I’m bored. Understand?”

“Understood. Can we come by tomorrow?”

Evelyn fought to suppress every ounce of eagerness she suddenly had to start working on this project. She was determined never to let the super know how relieved she was to actually have something to _do_. “Fine. Sure. Whatever.”

“One more thing.” Evelyn turned toward Elastigirl and realized with a sudden shock that she had taken her mask off. “I trust you, which is probably stupid. But I do. I want you to know you can trust me — the real me, not just because I’m a super — so… My real name is Helen Parr.”

“Hm. Helen.” Evelyn repeated the name several times, as if she were trying to decide how it tasted in her mouth. “I gotta be honest, that’s a pretty boring name. Kind of anticlimactic, don’t you think?”

“You can take that up with my parents. I mean, not really, because- Anyway, there’s a reason my hero name doesn’t have my real name in it — I’m not exactly a Gamma Jack. I’m not quite that self-assured. Or narcissistic.”

“Well. Okay, Helen. Come by here tomorrow with your weird mystery kid. Let’s see if we can figure her out.”

“Thank you. You have no idea what this means.” Helen reached for the door.

“And please, wear normal clothes. It’s infuriating how good you look in skin-tight clothing.”

Helen paused, then turned her head, grinning slyly. “Bob doesn’t seem to mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I changed the year supers went underground from 1955 to 1947 after a discussion I had on tumblr (thanks, cosmck!) I will explain the full timeline (as it is in my head) later, when it becomes more relevant!  
> Ah, I'm so excited to bring Evelyn into this now! The fluff is coming, I promise -- but Ellen's storyline won't be forgotten, either.  
> I'm hoping to update every Wednesday and Saturday, but as a chaotic lesbian with no sense of time, I'm making no promises.  
> As always, tell me how you feel in the comments and leave suggestions if you have any, and find me on tumblr at findingbravado!


	4. A New Experiment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellen finally meets the woman who tried to destroy her entire family, and this may come as a shock, but things are a little awkward.

She wasn’t exactly sure why, but Evelyn was nervous to have Helen and her kid over at her house. She had spent the last few months lounging around in sweatpants, seeing nobody except the man who delivered her meals each day — without electronics, she had no way to cook for herself, not that she really would have bothered anyway — and Winston, who visited occasionally. She didn’t care that they saw her in messy clothes, but now? She didn’t even like Helen, but she felt the need to dress like she would if she were at work, which today she kind of was, in a sense. The morning before their arrival, she tore through her closet, looking for an outfit that said “I’m dressing like this because I take my work seriously, not because I care about your opinion.” Which was kind of a hard look to pull off, considering she had been wearing a t-shirt with holes in it and old track pants when Helen surprised her yesterday. After sifting through racks of button downs, blazers, and ostentatiously patterned slacks, she finally decided on an oversized beige sweater and white striped linen pants — a put-together look that was comfortable to work in, but didn’t seem like she was trying too hard.  
  
There was a gentle knock at the door. Evelyn gulped down the last bit of whiskey in her glass and slowly walked to the entryway, trying to breathe deeply to calm her nerves. When she opened the door, Helen greeted her, and the teen stuck out her hand for a handshake.  
  
“Hi, I’m Ellen.”  
  
“Evelyn,” she mumbled, shaking her hand while eyeing the girl. She was shocked at how... normal she seemed. Unlike the other Parr kids, Ellen looked just like her mother: reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, pointed chin. They both dressed modestly; Helen in a plain long-sleeved t-shirt and khakis — total mom outfit — and Ellen in a plaid button-down and jeans.

  
“Uh, come on in,” she said, stepping aside from the doorframe. She noticed Helen giving her a once-over, which she didn’t really appreciate. She was dressed nicer, but she was acutely aware of the bags under her eyes and her impossible-to-tame hair.  
  
“You’re looking well,” Helen said kindly. She got an annoyed “humph” in response.  
  
After Evelyn poured herself another drink — Helen declined one this time — the three sat down on the couches in the living room.

“Let’s cut to the chase, then. All right, kid, show me what you got.”  
  
Ellen looked nervously at her mother. Helen smiled reassuringly at her and said softly, “Honey, can you… sense anything from Evelyn?”  
  
She hesitated, then nodded yes. Evelyn eyed her cautiously. If this kid really could sense deeply-buried emotions, she did not want to hear what was about to come out of Ellen’s mouth.  
  
“She’s kinda… squirmish about the idea of someone knowing how she feels. That’s the strongest thing I can sense.”  
  
“Is there anything else?” Helen prodded.  
  
Ellen stared intently at the allegedly reformed villain sitting across from her. The woman had a great poker face — her demeanor was perfectly neutral, if not a little cold — but Ellen could sense the absolute desperation raging in her head.

Desperation. Evelyn couldn’t look even the 15-year-old in the eye. She couldn’t really understand the thoughts she was having, but she knew she didn’t want them spoken into existence. She could make sense of a few things inside her head — that she didn’t hate Elastigirl as much as she wanted to, that she was relieved to have people over at her house, that she had been bored out of her goddamn mind these past few months — but mostly, her mind was a tornado of abstract emotions she couldn’t connect to tangible thoughts. Fear. Gratitude. Anger. Intrigue. Misery. Shame.

She finally gathered the courage to look up. Ellen was staring at her thoughtfully, a knowing glint in her eyes. Evelyn knew the girl understood, and she mentally braced herself for impact.

“That’s it,” Ellen said simply, turning to her mother. “She just feels weird about the whole emotions thing. But I can’t figure out what her emotions actually are. She’s hard to read.”

And that’s how Evelyn knew just how powerful Ellen’s abilities were.

***

Ellen knew she shouldn’t trust Evelyn. She knew she should hate her, given what she did to her family. She kidnapped her parents. Tortured them. She tried to do the same to her siblings. Ellen reminded herself of these facts over and over, but she knew the truth: Deep down, Evelyn was a good person. Her actions were beyond horrible. But they came from a place of a desire, as extremely misguided as it was, to make the world better.

She also could sense her mother’s feelings toward the woman. She, too, should despise Evelyn. She should be feeling sick just being here. But she wasn’t. Ellen couldn’t quite pinpoint the way Helen was feeling, but it was somewhere among respect, nostalgia, and trepidation.

Most of all, she could tell the two had similar personalities. Her mom had told her one night a few weeks ago how she thought Evelyn was her friend before she found out who she truly was. “I know it’s silly, but I miss the ‘old’ Evelyn,” she had said. “I thought we understood each other. I didn’t realize she was manipulating me.”

But Ellen now knew her mother was wrong. The two women did understand each other. They just didn’t realize it yet.

***

“Okay, so there are a lot of questions that need to be answered here.” Evelyn was pacing around the room, trying to hide her happiness about having something meaningful to do again. “So she can sense emotions. We got that. But is it only of people she knows well? Obviously she had a harder time with me than she did with the rest of your family.” She snuck a glance at Ellen, who gave a soft smile in return, and Evelyn realized that not only was this girl extraordinarily intelligent, but she had also inherited her mother’s deep compassion. She tried really, really hard to hate it.

“Does she have to be in the same room as the person whose emotions she’s trying to sense? Is there some sort of radius? Does she have to be able to see them? Hear them? Where is the line between sensing feelings and mind reading?”

Ellen interrupted her train of thought. “Well, I don’t know what you’re thinking, and I don’t know what you’re going to say next,” she said. “I don’t think I can read minds.”

Evelyn stopped her pacing. “Okay, I’m going to go outside where you can’t see me, and you try to sense my emotions out there.”

“Hey, I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Helen raised one eyebrow, “but you’re kind on house arrest.”

The messy-haired woman rolled her head to the side and groaned. “All right then,” she nodded toward Ellen, “you go outside. Stand away from the windows so you can’t see us, and see if you can sense my or your mom’s emotions. Come back inside whenever you feel like you’re ready.” Ellen obliged and walked out the door.

It suddenly dawned on Evelyn that she was alone in the house with Helen, and her heart rate quickened. She knew she had been alone with her before plenty of times, but she had been alone with _Elastigirl_ . This was _Helen_. Why that made a difference, Evelyn did not know, but for some reason, it made her nervous. She found herself both wishing Ellen would come back in and dreading her entry to announce Evelyn’s ridiculous anxiety.

Helen, too, felt weird. She tried to ease the tension: “So, do you really think this is some kind of power?”

Evelyn coughed, caught off guard, and took a few seconds before answering. “I, uh, don’t know. I want to do some more testing. It would help if I could design a few things. But you have to understand, if she can truly understand not just others’ emotions, but also their deepest thoughts and fears… That would a whole new level of taking down villains with long-term plans. I mean, imagine if…” She hesitated, not sure if she should go on. “Imagine if she had been with you when you first met me. She would have known right away. She would have known that…” She winced and trailed off. She still hated supers with a fiery passion, but seeing Helen — not Elastigirl — with one of her kids made her feel somewhat guilty about what she did.

Helen’s face went stone cold.

Luckily, Ellen walked back in the door just in time to diffuse a bomb that was dangerously close to going off.

“You’re both stressed,” she said. “You’re both angry. And,” she looked at Evelyn and hesitated, “I, uh, found it harder to get the bigger picture of Evelyn’s emotions. But Mom, I understand why you’re angry.”

She leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder, and Helen lovingly squeezed her arm tight.

“Okay, um, let’s try something different.” Evelyn scratched her head, grateful she was not currently being strangled. “Helen, why don’t you go outside, and let’s see if Ellen can read both your emotions from a distance, and mine from close up.”

“If you think I’m letting my daughter alone with you-”

“Mom, it’s okay.” Ellen turned around to face Helen. “Trust me, nothing’s going to happen. I don’t really know how, but I can tell. I’ll come get you when I need you.” Helen stood still for a moment, unwilling to leave, but her daughter’s brown eyes were calm and confident. She let out a deep breath and turned toward the door.

***

Now that they were alone, Evelyn took a step toward Ellen and reached her hand out. The 15-year-old jumped back.

“Hey, woah. I’m not going to hurt you.” Evelyn gestured to the empty mansion. “I’m useless without my tech. Honestly, you could probably beat the shit out of me in a fight.” Ellen nodded, and Evelyn continued. “Ellen… You’re lying, aren’t you?” It was more of a statement than a question.

The teen hesitated, then nodded. “You don’t hate my mom. You don’t hate that we’re here. But you do kinda hate yourself for… for what you did.” She looked down at the ground and made circles with her foot. “But I could tell you didn’t want me to say that. The weird thing is, though, is that I’m not sure I really understand my own feelings. At least, not as well as I understand other people’s. Because I could’ve said all of that. I probably should have. But I didn’t want to, and I don’t know why. I have no motivation to protect you — not after what you did to my family. You would have orphaned me, you know that? You would have taken away everyone I love.”

Once again, Evelyn could not make her eyes meet the girl’s in front of her. She started to speak, but Ellen cut her off.

“But listen. You want to know what my mom thinks of you? She likes you, and she hates that she likes you. She has two of you in her mind: One is the woman she met at DevTech, and the other is the woman who almost destroyed her family. And she’s finding it difficult to reconcile the two. She thinks she would’ve been friends with the ‘old’ Evelyn. She told me that herself. But she knows the ‘old’ Evelyn is the same person as, well, how she knows you now.”

A thousand things ran through Evelyn’s mind. Helen… didn’t hate her? Wait, no, she _liked_ her? Even after everything she did? She didn’t know how to word it, but she opened her mouth to attempt some sort of apology.

“No need. I know.” Ellen grinned, pleased that she was beginning to master her newfound ability. “Look, you did some fucked up stuff. You can’t change that. But there’s a chance my mom won’t totally despise you forever, if you do this right.”

Evelyn gaped at the girl in front of her. It was no doubt that she was an empath — a very, very strong empath, considering how well she could read emotions after just a few days of even becoming aware of her powers. “I- hey, does your mother know you use that kind of language?”

“Shit. I forgot about my mom. I gotta go get her.”

***

All three were in agreement: Ellen was beyond just empathetic. She was a true empath. She really was a super. But now they had to figure out how she could use this power.

Evelyn leaned her head to one side and scratched her chin. She paced some more, muttering unintelligibly under her breath. Finally, she turned to Ellen. “Do you understand how powerful your abilities could be, with proper training? Do you understand the depth of what you could do?” With a touch of fear in her eyes, Ellen did not answer. She simply swallowed and looked up at Evelyn, who carried on. “You could undermine a villain’s entire mission. Yeah, some people just want to rob a bank because they want some money. But some people have a whole mission — like Syndrome, for example.”

“Or you,” Helen cut in coldly.

“Look, I get it, I hypnotized you and your husband, et cetera, but if you want my help you’re really going to have to let that go.” Evelyn rolled her eyes, exasperated.

“ _Let that go_? Do you seriously think I could EVER-”

Ellen cleared her throat. “Hello? Can you kill each other later, please?”

Helen, who had stretched to tower over her opponent in anger — a tactic she had learned after men refused to take her seriously when she first started professional hero work — came back down to her regular height. Evelyn coughed and nervously continued airing out her theories.

“Um. So. Anyway, other supers, like your parents, can only stop villains from inflicting damage. That’s not to say they’re not intelligent, too, but you? You could figure out someone’s plan right away, and then tell supers with physical abilities what the weak spots are.”

She went back to pacing, now gesticulating enthusiastically. “And it’s more than that. Maybe. It’s hard to tell just yet, but… these could even be offensive powers, not just defensive. You could attack someone emotionally — figure out their biggest fear, their deepest insecurity. You might even be able to manipulate the way someone feels.”

Helen was leaning against the arch that separated the kitchen from the living room. “You do recognize that you are talking as if you are supporting supers here, right?” she asked with a smirk.

“I’m just trying to help your daughter,” Evelyn snapped. “These powers could easily be used to do horrible things, you know.”

“That’s true of any superpower,” Helen retorted. “You would know.”

***

After another hour of experimenting with Ellen’s powers — Can you tell what your dad is thinking right now? What about Violet? Dash? Jack-Jack? Winston? The still-at-large Underminer? — all three were thoroughly exhausted, but Evelyn had enough information to start a project.

“I’ve got an idea,” she said, smiling wider than she had in months. “I need to design — where’s my sketchpad? — I need to draw up some enhancing devices…” She turned toward Helen. “All right, so where’s that tech you promised?’

Helen grinned. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask about that.” She pulled out what seemed to be a plain piece of metal.

“My lab remote!” But Evelyn couldn’t grab it from the hand that was now stretched all the way to the ceiling. “Hey, what gives? I thought we had a deal.”

“We do,” Helen said. “But there is a catch: You are not allowed to use any technology unless Elastigirl herself is supervising you.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Evelyn groaned. “Well, I guess I can’t blame them.”

Ellen frowned as she observed the two women. They should despise the idea of working together. Her mother should be wanting to break off the deal. The inventor should be wanting to stay as far away from Elastigirl as possible. Yet each of them was secretly excited to spend more time with each other. But why?

Helen turned toward her daughter. “Ellen, sweetie, the driver is going to take you back home. I’m going to stay a while and see what kind of technology Evelyn has in mind. I’ll be back in a couple of hours, okay?”

Ellen smiled, gave her mom a hug, and walked out the door and into the way-too-ostentatious limo that was to take her way-too-ostentatious home. Winston Deavor did not hold back when it came to spoiling supers. Helen turned toward Evelyn, not quite able to conceal her grin.

“I’m going to go change into my supersuit so ‘Elastigirl’ can supervise. It looks like we have some work to do, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna be honest, I'm not totally pleased with this chapter. Mostly because I've writing ahead, and I'm just super excited for the chapters to come! I really hope you're liking the story so far.  
> Also, I know in the notes for chapter 3 I said I'd try to post every Wednesday/Saturday, and today is Sunday, buuuut... in my defense, I thought I posted chapter 3 on a Wednesday, but it was a Thursday lmao. Like I said, chaotic lesbian with no sense of time whatsoever!  
> Anywayyyy, as always, let me know what you think down below, and find me on tumblr at findingbravado :)
> 
> PS - I enjoyed writing that very first paragraph because I love Evelyn's sense of style, so you can definitely expect more details about her outfits in the future, lol. If you like her fashion too, I have a board on Pinterest if you want to check it out! https://bit.ly/2LyLdgw


	5. A New Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn tries to come to grips with her relationship with Elastigirl... I mean Helen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for waiting so long to update. My mental health has been Not Great... but luckily for me, neither has Evelyn's, so that makes writing her parts pretty easy. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Helen walked in the door around 10:00 that night, still clad in her supersuit. She immediately went into her closet to change into her pajamas and bathrobe — wearing spandex, no matter how stretchy, was just so _constricting_ — and meandered into the kitchen, in the mood for a glass of wine. She poured herself a rather large glass of pinot grigio, then went to Bob’s office to see if he wanted a beer.

“Hi, honey,” she said, leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek. Bob twitched a little, startled, then smiled widely at his wife. “Do you want a drink?” she asked, gesturing to the wine glass in her head.

They settled down in their living room, which was Deavor-style ornate and massive, yet cozy, as Helen had tried to add some homey touches like pictures the kids drew when they were little. On another wall were pictures of Dash at his first track meet, Violet and Tony posing before their second date (Tony had a buoyant smile; Violet, an annoyed grimace), and Ellen holding Jack-Jack, both grinning ear to ear.

“Ellen’s spending the night at Annie’s house,” Bob said. Helen frowned slightly. She had been hoping to talk to her daughter about her first day working with Evelyn. The inventor was filled to the brim with ideas and theories about Ellen. At the same time, though, she was glad that Ellen had such a close friend — they had been worried she would be too isolated after dropping out of public school.

“And the other kids are with Karen,” Bob continued. “They practically begged to stay over at her apartment. So it’s just us tonight.” The Parrs loved Karen. The young super adored the kids, and the kids saw her as an older sister. Karen reminded Helen of Stratogale… maybe what Gail would have been like if she had made it to her 20s.

Helen leaned into her husband and let out a deep, content breath as he put his arm around her and softly caressed her shoulder. Bob hadn’t gone out to patrol the streets that night, despite the kids’ absence; he had decided — rather uncharacteristically — to stay in and organize some of his old files in his office. He was glad he was home when Helen came home. They hadn’t been making enough time for themselves as a couple lately, and it was nice to just relax together, sometimes chatting, sometimes sitting in comfortable silence.

***

Helen knocked on Evelyn’s door. The officer in charge of her case agreed to let Elastigirl work with the somewhat imprisoned woman once a week, but didn’t specify any particular time or day. She didn’t have any way to contact Evelyn — no tech meant no phones — but Helen figured Friday at 11 a.m. would be a good a time as any.

Apparently not, since Evelyn took her time getting to the front door. Helen was about to knock again when, finally, the door opened a crack.

“Christ, you’re here early,” Evelyn muttered, opening the door all the way, revealing herself in all her bed-headed, pajamed glory.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think 11 would be too-”

“It’s fine. I’m just going to take a shower before we, like, make conversation. Feel free to amuse yourself while you’re waiting,” she said dryly, gesturing to the mansion devoid of almost anything that wasn’t furniture, then walked up the staircase to the master bathroom.

Helen took off her mask and gloves and laid them on an end table. She looked at the lab remote she was tasked with keeping away from Evelyn and tried to remember how the genius had made the remote, which was just a completely smooth piece of silver, open up the hidden laboratory within the living room.

Dot dot dot. Dot dot. Dash dot. Dash. Dash dash dash. Dot dash dash. Dash dot.

Sin town.

Helen chuckled at the cheesy, yet sweet, double meaning of the morse code password as she watched the lab spring to life. The couches and tables dropped into the ground as a humongous desk with ten computer screens rose up. Filing cabinets — rather dusty from lack of use, since Evelyn preferred to scatter her blueprints and sketches across the lab — popped up to the right of the desk, and a chalkboard to the left. Helen ambled around the room, scratching her head as she studied blueprints she couldn’t begin to comprehend. She once dated someone getting a master’s degree in chemistry. It kind of made her wish she had gone to college, but she had never been any good at math and science, anyway. Professional hero work was where she belonged.

Helen was lost in thought when Evelyn came back downstairs, looking much more put-together in black-and-white plaid pants and a snug black turtleneck.

“Hey!” Helen jumped. “What are you doing in my lab without me?”

“Woah, relax,” the super said, taken aback by the unexpected anger in Evelyn’s eyes. “I didn’t touch anything. Just looking around.”

With an irritated “humph,” the brunette reached her hand out for the remote, then walked over to each computer and turned them on one by one with quick taps on the silver rectangle. She sifted carelessly through her notebooks until she found the one she had been writing in last week. “Hey, toss me that pen over there, would you?”

Helen, declining to throw a writing utensil at a woman whose back was turned, instead walked over to her desk and put it into her hand. As she passed off the pen, the two women’s hands touched — just for a second — and Helen, perhaps because she had just been thinking of the last lover she’d had before marrying Bob, felt her heart skip a beat. She didn’t even notice Evelyn jerk away as she took a step back and sat down in a chair, running her hands roughly through her hair as if trying to physically get rid of the weird feeling.

Evelyn shuffled a few more papers before turning around. “Okay, so, I’ve been thinking: Ellen’s power obviously isn’t physical. But anyone with a doctorate in physics can tell you that technically, everything is physical. Everything is a disturbance of matter.”

“You have a doctorate in physics?”

“Yes. And mechanical engineering. And computer science. _Anyway_ , my point is, there is a physical aspect to her powers. And I think I’ve finally figured it out. It’s ionospheric disturbance and electron precipitation.”

“Um. I never went to college, let alone get any type of doctoral degree. Layman’s terms, please.”

Evelyn couldn’t conceal the smug grin on her face. “Okay, so, ionospheric disturbance,” she said in a very slow, drawn out voice.

“ _Evelyn._ I’m not a child.”

With an over-exaggerated eye roll, the genius continued. “Ionospheric disturbance, to put it _very_ simply, disrupts telecommunications systems. It usually comes from solar flares. And electron precipitation also disrupts telecommunications systems, but it usually comes from lightning strikes. I don’t know how, but I think Ellen is harnessing this same type of energy and using it not to affect radio waves and the like, but the electric field that our brains are made up of — that our thoughts are made up of.”

“So… the same type of energy that lightning strikes and the literal _sun_ have… Ellen has it, too?”

“Sort of. I think so. But I’m going to have to do a lot of tests.” Evelyn began pacing the room, muttering almost unintelligibly under her breath. “Quantum mechanics” and “Schrödinger’s equation” were the only words Helen could understand. “Can you bring your kid in next week?”

“Sure."

“Great. In the meantime, I’m going to figure out exactly how to test and harness this energy.” Evelyn sat down at her desk and immediately became so absorbed in her work that she didn’t even notice Helen pull her chair up next to her and intently watch.

Helen didn’t understand the things Evelyn was writing down — nonsense like “ _E = hf - ψ_ ” and “ _ψ(x, t) = u(X)t(T)"_ — but she was fascinated by her process. Evelyn didn’t write anything in a straight line; she scribbled equations all over the page. Lines connected words with Greek symbols that had no meaning to Helen. The genius beside her was speaking quickly under her breath, quiet enough that Helen couldn’t decipher what she was saying. She probably wouldn’t have understood it, anyway.

Evelyn turned her head around to say something to Helen, whom she assumed was still across the room. The two women froze in shock as Evelyn ended up just inches from Helen’s face instead. Blue eyes stared into brown for what was probably a millisecond, but felt like a lifetime.

“I, uh, I’m going to get a drink,” Evelyn finally said, standing up abruptly and smoothing her pants. “Want anything?”

“Um, yeah, sure. Whatever you’re having.”

She returned after a minute with two crystal glasses full of vodka.

“Jesus, Evelyn, you drink this straight?”

The brunette simply grinned. “What, you can’t handle it?” She took a long gulp while staring straight into Helen’s eyes.

The super narrowed her eyes. She knew it was a bad idea, but hell, she was competitive. She downed half the glass without breaking eye contact.

Evelyn burst into laughter. “Chugging vodka, huh? I thought you ‘never get to drink anymore’?”

“ _Helen_ hardly drinks. Elastigirl, though? She’s seen some shit.” And she winked as she pounded the remainder of the glass.

With both their glasses empty — and neither really affected, considering Helen’s super genetics and Evelyn’s high functioning alcoholism — the women blinked. _What are we doing? We’re supposed to hate each other._

Evelyn cleared her throat and sat back down at her desk, and Helen went back to observing — from the couch this time.

***

After about 15 more minutes of scribbling furiously, Evelyn suddenly stopped and turned around in her chair.

“Okay, so, I’m helping you literally just because I’m bored. What if I’m not bored anymore, huh? What are you going to do then?”

She expected Helen to be taken aback. The woman was far too trusting — naïve, even — to have considered the possibility of Evelyn reneging on their deal. But Helen simply smiled.

“You’ve got another 11 months left of house arrest, right?” Evelyn lolled her head to the side and nodded. “What if I told you I could knock, oh, I don’t know… 10 months off that?”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope.” A sly grin crept across Helen’s face. “Those supers you hate so much have a bit of favor with the government, you know. The officers in charge of your case trust my judgment — especially considering that you _almost fucking killed me_ — and agreed that if I deem you worthy of release, they’ll take my word for it.”

Evelyn could do nothing but stand there, agape.

“Yep. One month of putting up with me, and you’ll have your freedom. Full access to your DevTech lab, not to mention a refrigerator…” She laughed. “Shut your mouth, you’ll catch flies like that.”

Anger coursed through Evelyn’s veins. Of course. Of _course_ she had to be indebted to this woman again. She already owed her her life, and now she’d have to owe her her freedom, too? But then Ellen’s voice rang in her head. _She likes you, and she hates that she likes you._ Stupid Elastigirl. Probably the only super in the world who wasn’t self-obsessed. Evelyn hated how hard it was to hate her.

“What’s the catch?” she finally asked.

“No catch. Just keep doing what we’ve agreed on — help me with Ellen — and I’ll tell the officers at the end of the month that I think you’re reformed and no longer a danger to society.” She paused, then grinned. “Oh, and I do think I’m in the market for a new Elasticycle.”

“I- Fine. Okay. I’m in. But it’s  _only_ because I’m going crazy with boredom, understand?” Evelyn said through gritted teeth.

“Understood. Ellen and I will see you next week.” Helen put on her gloves and mask and turned toward the door, but then she paused. “You know what, Evelyn? I understand why you hate supers. I understand why you did what you did. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for it, but I get why you did it. You were trying to keep the general public safer — well, safer in your eyes — and honestly? That’s a noble thing. You did it in an incredibly fucked up way, but I get it.” She smiled thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re not so bad after all, Evelyn Deavor.” And she walked out the door before Evelyn could even begin to process what just happened.

***

Twenty-four hours came and went after Elastigirl’s latest visit, and Evelyn still hadn’t slept. She couldn’t get the super’s words out of her head.

_I get why you did it._

It drove Evelyn crazy. How could the woman — this woman who barely knew her — presume to understand what it was like in her head? What it was like to watch her father die because he stupidly put his life in the hands of superheroes? What it was like to see her brother choose supers over her, to literally jump out of a plane just to get away from her?

But something about what she said somehow made her feel comforted, too. She tried to push down the thought, but it kept resurfacing like acid rising in her throat.

_That’s a noble thing. Maybe you’re not so bad after all._

Evelyn had long ago accepted that Winston was the good sibling, kindhearted and charming, and she was the bad one: Cold. Antisocial. Unforgiving. It had been so easy to ignore the fact that Elastigirl had a family, to isolate her and project all her hatred toward supers onto this one woman. But meeting her daughter in person, seeing Elastigirl — Helen — out of costume… It made what she did feel more real. And confronted with the reality of what she had done made her feel something awful, something that seemed to trudge slowly through her veins like warm molasses, always making sure Evelyn could feel it.

Guilt.

She sunk down to the floor, knocking over an empty whiskey glass, and tossed her head backward to hit the wall, hoping with each _thud_ she could rid herself of these thoughts. She looked at the glass beside her. She wanted to get another drink. She wanted to sleep. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to smash her fist through a window, rip her hair out, scald her skin in the world’s hottest bath. She wanted Elastigirl to be out of her life forever.

She wanted Helen never to leave her.

But she couldn’t do any of those things. She was paralyzed by her overwhelming and incomprehensible emotions, and she couldn’t move, couldn’t think. She could do nothing but sit in that same spot on the floor until sleep finally took her over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you figured out who Helen's last lover was from the one piece of information I mentioned, you're required to leave kudos. Sorry, I don't make the rules. (And don't spoil it in the comments!)  
> Let me know in the comments if you are enjoying the fic so far!! And if you want to keep up with my shenanigans/descend into Hevelyn hell, follow me on tumblr: findingbravado.tumblr.com.
> 
> One more note: You may have noticed I changed my ao3 pseud to findingbravado -- it was previously asongtokeepuswarm (if you get the reference, I want to be your friend). I changed it so it would match my tumblr/discord names and hopefully avoid confusion! It's still the same me.
> 
> -Em


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